William 'Teddy' Petter originally designed the
Gnat as a rocket powered point defense fighter. As jet engines improved and
became smaller and aircraft companies evaluated the jet vs jet Korean war
experience, the design changed to an ultra lightweight maneuverable fighter (the
exact opposite of what Lockheed design guru Kelly Johnson came up with in the
F-104 Starfighter.)

India became the biggest user of the
Gnat (or Ajeet) and the only nation to fly these in combat where they
successfully took on Pakistanís F-86 Sabres. The Ajeet was known as the Sabre
Killer.

Outside of India the Gnat T1 trainer
was more known because it was the plane of the RAFís Red Arrows acrobatic team
from the mid 60s till the late 70s when it was replaced by the BAE Hawk. It was
the primary RAF jet trainer in that time frame and wore very colorful paint
schemes such as aluminum/day glo orange and signal red/light grey and white.

Gnats are still flying around the
world in private collections because it is a very simple jet to maintain and fly
(like the early Migs.) The Gnat T1 was also became a movie star of sorts. They
were in the Top Gun spoof (I think the Tom Cruise movie was parody enough) Hot
Shots and Hot Shots Part Deux as the US Navy fighters flown by the heroes.

THE KIT

It has all the hallmarks of
a limited run kit from lots of flash, rough parts, poor fit and no guide pins.
The white metal parts have some flash, but no serious flaws to the parts.

There are a grand total of 24
plastic parts in light grey styrene and 31 parts in white metal (landing gear,
cockpit, antennas and wheels.) The assembly instructions are reasonably
detailed with arrows pointing at specific areas and not vague areas, but typical
for short run kits. The copy of the kit I purchased came with both injection
molded and vaccuform canopies.

The paint guide is good (if not
better) as those from major model makers. The four options are detailed with
the stencil locations clearly marked. Two of the four options are for early
1960s trainers with NMF/aluminum lacquer and day-glo orange markings while the
third option is a late 60s Gnat with light grey instead of NMF/aluminum lacquer
and the final option is the 1970s signal red and light grey trainer scheme.

CONCLUSIONS

Judging by the price, this Aeroclub
kit is definitely for those who REALLY want a Gnat in 1/48 scale (which I do.)
Despite the low number of parts, this will not be an easy build (especially if
you want to build a NMF version) and should not be treated as such.